HELP ALL AROUND: Performances like those from fill-in Victor Cruz helped the Giants get a statement win over the Eagles on Sunday.Getty Images

He nearly had a bare-knuckle brawl with the opposing tight end. That’s how fired up safety Antrel Rolle was during the high-intensity showdown with the Eagles, and by the time the Giants strutted out of Lincoln Financial Field with a gritty 29-16 victory, Rolle had learned something about his team.

“It was about mental toughness more than anything,” Rolle said yesterday. “We weren’t going to be denied under any circumstance. That’s huge. Personally for myself I saw a lot from this team. I saw a team that’s willing to get down in the trenches and fight and never let up.”

There was a palpable injection of something — call it confidence, relief, personal validation — washing over the Giants after one of their most rewarding regular-season victories in several years. Rarely has a team needed to reveal some sort of identity as the Giants did in going against the concensus top dog in the NFC East. The way they did it — with old reliable players coming through, young upstarts breaking out and many different precincts reporting in with game-turning moments — changed the mood within and the perception from the outside looking in.

For so many weeks it seemed all that came out of the Giants were injury updates, bad news and signs that this season was going to be a long one. But despite a still-depleted roster, they downed the Eagles and now set their sights on an inviting stretch, Sunday against the Cardinals in Glendale, Ariz., followed by three consecutive home games.

“At the end of the day we’re all human, we all know what we’re working with,” Rolle said. “We had a lot of key guys go down. We’re not going to let that stop us and I think that showed. We were very passionate about our game and guys played outstanding games.”

The way some of the emergency fill-ins played was especially enlightening.

Victor Cruz in his second season — he spent the bulk of his rookie year on injured reserve — came into the game with two career catches and hurt the Eagles with his first two touchdown receptions. Just like that, the Giants might have some depth at receiver; Mario Manningham said he will play this week after a concussion kept him out in Philly, giving Cruz his first NFL start.

“Yeah, definitely after coming off a win like that where I made some plays and I did some good things, I’m definitely confident,” Cruz said. “I’m definitely ready to go onto next week and keep proving myself.”

Rookie linebacker Jacquian Williams, a sixth-round pick from South Florida, did well to make the roster and was expected to fill a special-teams role. All of a sudden, he was on the field for the majority of the snaps on defense as the nickel linebacker. He led the team with nine tackles and his extreme speed made him a smart choice as the spy against Michael Vick.

“The speed wasn’t a surprise because we knew what we had there,” Tom Coughlin said, “but I think that the quality of the young man has been a huge plus.”

The performances of youngsters were augmented by a toughness factor Rolle believes he exemplified with, of all things, a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness after he scuffled with tight end Brent Celek in the second quarter. The penalty helped the Eagles score their first touchdown, but Rolle said the stand he took outweighed any harm he might have caused.

“I think my teammates understood where I was coming from,” Rolle said. “I felt they were cheap-shotting me a little bit, they kept trying to put their hand up in my facemask and I just had to let them know I’m not a pushover, I’m not a punk. Sometimes you have to put your foot down, even if it costs you a little bit. . . .

“I’m definitely a guy that’s never going to back down. If you speak it enough it will come to light. That’s something we as a team did. No one gave us a chance, but the only thing that matters is we gave ourselves a chance and came out victorious.”